Horses shouldn't be allowed on the country roads

[omniflow]

MrTrilby said:

If you’re worried about putting people at an acceptable level of risk... how many people were killed on UK roads last year by horses, and how many people were killed by cars?

I think if you want to phrase the debate in terms of putting people at acceptable risk, it quickly becomes a question of when we should ban people from driving cars on the road. I’m not sure that’s the outcome that you’re hoping for.

Hmmmm.

Perhaps you'd like to consider the context of my response - which was regarding people learning to drive on the road, sometimes supervised, sometimes not, vs. horses being schooled on the road so that they can get used to it and not kill people unnecessarily.


The point that you have raised now places the discussion into a completely different context, and it's not relevant to the original discussion.

[funkyrobot]

Just been out for an hour or so on the bicycle around the country lanes.

Soooo many dheads in cars (speeding around blind corners then panic braking, not wanting to put a wheel on the verge when passing, driving at me as if wasn't there etc.)

No problems to report with any horses. All courteous and pleasant.

[funkyrobot]

Henners said:

Most are fine, the horse-walt on the other hand...

I have never understood the hatred for these. What harm are they actually doing?

If you need to adjust your driving because you see these, you are doing something wrong.

[MrTrilby]

omniflow said:

Perhaps you'd like to consider the context of my response - which was regarding people learning to drive on the road, sometimes supervised, sometimes not, vs. horses being schooled on the road so that they can get used to it and not kill people unnecessarily.
.

Ok. How many people are killed or seriously injured on UK roads by learner drivers, and how many are killed on roads by horses?

So in the context of your response, getting drivers to learn on the road is a demonstrably higher risk activity than horses using roads. Which I would suggest is still not the outcome that you’re hoping for.

[NDA]

funkyrobot said:

Henners said:

Most are fine, the horse-walt on the other hand...

I have never understood the hatred for these. What harm are they actually doing?

If you need to adjust your driving because you see these, you are doing something wrong.

I think the dislike is because there is a special type of knob who goes out on his motorbike being a 'road captain' and trying very hard to look like a policeman.

[Willy Nilly]

Nanook said:

What minimum safety standard was my quad bike checked against? I didn't have to pass any sort of test to drive it on the road, and the same is true of tractors, so can you clarify what you mean by that statement?

I was under supervision, when I learned to drive a car, yes.

Not when I started riding a bike on the road though. There was no 'qualified individual' watching over me, which most horse riders these days have when they learn to ride on the road.

Any decent equestrian centre provide training for riders that want to go out hacking, using public roads.

The tractors I drive are all taxed (zero but you have to go through the process of "taxing" them), they are insured, registered and meet all of the type-approval regs that were current when they were built. They have to be road worthy (people do get and have been heavily fined for using wrecks particularly when they've been in an RTA). When they take to the road they are subject to the Road Traffic Act and I have to be licensed to drive them.

When a cyclist takes to the road, their bike doesn't weigh 700kg, have a mind of its own and doesn't st itself every time an ant farts in Chelmsford.

[Rovinghawk]

TooMany2cvs said:

Rovinghawk said:

TooMany2cvs said:

Does it matter?

Motor vehicle taxation contributes 5.4% of the money spent on it.

You make that sound as if 5.4% of road costs are from vehicle taxes. This is very much not the case.

The money isn't ring-fenced or hypothecated in any way at all, so it very much IS the case.

Vehicle taxes raise massively more than is spent on the roads. Saying that 5.4% of vehicle taxes are spent on the roads is a lie.

[TooMany2cvs]

Rovinghawk said:

Saying that 5.4% of vehicle taxes are spent on the roads is a lie.

Just as well I didn't say that, eh?

[James jamie]

thecremeegg said:

I live in the countryside, always have done, yet I have to agree with the OP in that horses no longer have any place on the public highway.
I can't ride a segway, or an electric scooter on the road, yet apparently a horse that might jump about at any sign of a noise is fine?

The only reason they're still allowed in reality is that the people that ride/keep/own them are the people that are in power!

What a load of bks... You obviously don't know anybody that ride/keep/own horses *rolleyes*

Edited by James jamie on Thursday 14th June 00:39

[Henners]

NDA said:

funkyrobot said:

Henners said:

Most are fine, the horse-walt on the other hand...

I have never understood the hatred for these. What harm are they actually doing?

If you need to adjust your driving because you see these, you are doing something wrong.

I think the dislike is because there is a special type of knob who goes out on his motorbike being a 'road captain' and trying very hard to look like a policeman.

Precisely the point.

[Burwood]

And there is a special kind of horse wker who has a massive chip on their shoulders, hatred for other road users and dresses up like the police to change behaviour. Personally I think dressing like that only attracts negative attention

[funkyrobot]

Burwood said:

And there is a special kind of horse wker who has a massive chip on their shoulders, hatred for other road users and dresses up like the police to change behaviour. Personally I think dressing like that only attracts negative attention

Why do some drivers need to change their behaviour when they think the police are nearby?

[DonkeyApple]

Burwood said:

And there is a special kind of horse wker who has a massive chip on their shoulders, hatred for other road users and dresses up like the police to change behaviour. Personally I think dressing like that only attracts negative attention

The trouble is that PH has completely proven that there are angry, unstable monumental tts out on our roads in cars.

It’s like when you learn one of your friends is seriously creepy when alone with girls. You’ve never seen it and you can’t belive it but you soon realise that this is how some people are.

A few years ago there was a monumental tool on PH who was prosecuted for deliberately wheelspinning his loud sports car next to a girl on a horse. You can’t even begin to comprehend what is going on in the brain of such a person. All you can really do is accept that these flawed and damaged creatures are among us.

You see various versions of them whenever there are discussions about premium SUVs, women, cyclists, horses etc etc

If these mentally unstable and damaged individuals weren’t out there in cars then people on horses wouldn’t need to wear silly, childish vests.

Normal humans don’t respond any differently around a rider whether they are sporting one of these vests or not. They don't trigger normal people to change anything but they very, very clearly have an effect on these damaged people. It must be something to do with their illness or faulty head wiring.

[soupdragon1]

funkyrobot said:

Burwood said:

And there is a special kind of horse wker who has a massive chip on their shoulders, hatred for other road users and dresses up like the police to change behaviour. Personally I think dressing like that only attracts negative attention

Why do some drivers need to change their behaviour when they think the police are nearby?

Lots of people will react differently. They'll check their speedo, they'll check the back of the car to make sure their dog is 'stowed' legally, they'll lift that packet of Maltesers resting between their legs and try and hide them somewhere, they'll may be start wondering if they have their driving license with them....all that type of stuff....basically adding distractions to their mind instead of giving 100% attention to what's in front of them? Some people get a little bit spooked when they see police, even if they're driving perfectly well.

[Conscript]

DonkeyApple said:

Burwood said:

And there is a special kind of horse wker who has a massive chip on their shoulders, hatred for other road users and dresses up like the police to change behaviour. Personally I think dressing like that only attracts negative attention

The trouble is that PH has completely proven that there are angry, unstable monumental tts out on our roads in cars.

It’s like when you learn one of your friends is seriously creepy when alone with girls. You’ve never seen it and you can’t belive it but you soon realise that this is how some people are.

A few years ago there was a monumental tool on PH who was prosecuted for deliberately wheelspinning his loud sports car next to a girl on a horse. You can’t even begin to comprehend what is going on in the brain of such a person. All you can really do is accept that these flawed and damaged creatures are among us.

You see various versions of them whenever there are discussions about premium SUVs, women, cyclists, horses etc etc

If these mentally unstable and damaged individuals weren’t out there in cars then people on horses wouldn’t need to wear silly, childish vests.

Normal humans don’t respond any differently around a rider whether they are sporting one of these vests or not. They don't trigger normal people to change anything but they very, very clearly have an effect on these damaged people. It must be something to do with their illness or faulty head wiring.

Sums up how I feel. I came in for some stick before when the notion of "Polite" vests was discussed, and I said I don't really see them as a problem. Most people claim those that the intention of wearers is to pass themselves off as police officers. The actual purpose, I think, is nothing more than an attention grabbing tactic, which should hopefully make the sort of cretin that DonkeyApple used in his example think twice. For most drivers, the simple presence of a horse rider wearing a high vis is enough reason to be alert and drive courteously, but there's a subset of cretinous morons on the roads who actively encourage dangerous behaviour when there's no threat of legal recrimination. I've seen evidence of this on this very forum, with people admitting to passing close, at speed, using the horn, intentionally trying to cause harm. Hopefully nothing more than trolling, but having seen videos of it happening, these people do exist.

If wearing a vest which at, first glance, might make them think twice about acting the dhead, then so be it.

[DonkeyApple]

soupdragon1 said:

Lots of people will react differently. They'll check their speedo, they'll check the back of the car to make sure their dog is 'stowed' legally, they'll lift that packet of Maltesers resting between their legs and try and hide them somewhere, they'll may be start wondering if they have their driving license with them....all that type of stuff....basically adding distractions to their mind instead of giving 100% attention to what's in front of them? Some people get a little bit spooked when they see police, even if they're driving perfectly well.

So there are humans out there, in cars that get spooked by vests?

We should stay focussed on the one or two horses that might be spooked by a crisp packet as suddenly realising that there could be millions of human drivers out there who get spooked by a vest destroys the whole basis of this this thread.

[funkyrobot]

soupdragon1 said:

funkyrobot said:

Burwood said:

And there is a special kind of horse wker who has a massive chip on their shoulders, hatred for other road users and dresses up like the police to change behaviour. Personally I think dressing like that only attracts negative attention

Why do some drivers need to change their behaviour when they think the police are nearby?

Lots of people will react differently. They'll check their speedo, they'll check the back of the car to make sure their dog is 'stowed' legally, they'll lift that packet of Maltesers resting between their legs and try and hide them somewhere, they'll may be start wondering if they have their driving license with them....all that type of stuff....basically adding distractions to their mind instead of giving 100% attention to what's in front of them? Some people get a little bit spooked when they see police, even if they're driving perfectly well.

Righto.

Checking the back of the car when driving is quite a feat.

Basically, its the wker drivers that don't like these vests. Purely because they are doing something stupid which could land them in trouble if picked up by the police.

I think the vests are fine and if it makes the morons behind the wheel think about what they are doing, then that is a good thing.

You only have to spend a bit of time in the countryside on the back lanes to see what sort of imbeciles are behind the wheel.

There are plenty of them too.

[FastDad]

MysteryLemon said:

You've opened up a can of worms here. Hell hath no fury like a horse rider scorned.

I once rung my bell and overtook a horse rider on my pushbike and got a stern yelling at as I might have scared her horse.. Well get the fking uncontrollable beast off the public highway then if a man on a bicycle might scare the st out of it... And pick up the giant lumps of st you've left all over the road before you get on your merry way...

Edited by MysteryLemon on Monday 11th June 12:10

I once got told off for not ringing my bell!!! So I always ring it now

[Henners]

funkyrobot said:

Basically, its the wker drivers that don't like these vests.

Why thank you.

I just have issue with anyone who thinks they're special enough to want to appear to be plod, when they aint.

Horse or no horse, you might think its acceptable, good for you.

[Henners]

Nanook said:

Henners said:

Why thank you.

I just have issue with anyone who thinks they're special enough to want to appear to be plod, when they aint.

Horse or no horse, you might think its acceptable, good for you.

You have issue? What is the issue?

Why does it upset you?

Freedom of choice.

Just like some think looking very much like plod, on purpose, is perfectly fine.